Weekend Review {08/26}

FRIDAY

The older I get, the more I notice how sensitive I am to other people's feelings.  Not sure if I'd called myself an Empath or a Highly Sensitive Person, but maybe kinda?  IDK.  There was a lot of frustration and irritation running rampant through the office on Friday and I picked up on it and I felt MYSELF being irritated for NO REASON.  Kind of annoying, honestly.  One coworker was so angry/frustrated that she announced she'd be cleaning up the game room and it meant that I could FINALLY move the table that has been sitting in the fire exit that makes it difficult for me to turn off the alarm in the morning, so I volunteered to help.  We turned on some jams and got shit done. 

When we were taking a cleaning break to accomplish some work things, I noticed that the dive shop had posted on FB that they had some openings for a chartered dive trip on Saturday and I asked Teh German if he was interested.  He was.  I ended up having to be the one to call and put us on the list, and the ONLY information I got was that we should be at the dive shop by 0700 on Saturday, and then the shop had a call, so I didn't get more info that that.  Kinda frustrating, but I knew it would be fine.

When I left work, I still felt the irritation of my coworkers.  I didn't end up leaving work until almost 5 because I was kinda avoiding going home because Teh German and I were having a "not fight" over things we were both not wanting to discuss, because he's an ostrich who sticks his head in the sand when shit happens instead of facing it, and sometimes I encourage that behavior by also not acknowledging issues right away... Just call us the ostrich family. 

Because it was so late when I left work, I didn't go to the gym.  I could have, but my irritation wasn't motivation to beat myself into submission on an elliptical, so I went home.  Found this strange urchin/snail situation when I got home.  I was actually alarmed because we couldn't figure out who was eating who in this situation.  Teh German said there was a dead snail in the tank and hopefully that's what it was and the urchin was eating it.  Nature being cruel, as it is wont to do.

In more stress, the anemone had moved in the middle of the night, but when we got home, it had put itself under a rock and Teh German was HIGHLY stressed about the fact that if it stayed there, it would die because it wouldn't get any light.  In the photo below you can see a bubble of a sort between the rock and the sand, that's the anemone foot.  Eventually, it poked it's tenticles out from that spot and put it's foot down under the rock.

After Teh German showered, we agreed to head to Sesame for dinner.  We went to the Citadel Mall location since we wanted to sit outside.  Because Sesame does happy hour from 4-7 Monday-Friday, we got there during happy hour time and I enjoyed TWO adult beverages, like the lush I am.  This is what happens when it's too late to order sweet tea.

After dinner, we stopped by a shoe store in the mall for new flippy floppies for Teh German and then to Target to pick up bread for dive sammiches and puzzles because why not.  I almost went by Dick's and picked up a pair of new school shoes for myself, but I was tired by that point and I had placed a Puma shoe order since their shoes were 50% off earlier, so I'm going to wait and see what I keep before dropping the dollas on the Brooks shoes.

Turkey burger, pimento cheese, mushrooms.
It was more delicious than it sounds.  I, too, was skeptical.

When we got home, Teh German fetched the dive gear out of the storage closet and I went through it to make sure everything was there.  Teh German loaded it up in the truck and I prepped food stuffs for the next day.  Then, we opted for an earlier bedtime since we had to get up at work-day time.

SATURDAY

Alarms went off at M-F time, which wasn't overly pleasant to be completely honest.  Teh German wanted to get up at regular time so he could enjoy his coffee and take care of his Teh German Time before we left the house.  We made it to the dive shop by 0710, which wasn't a problem since we knew that they'd have to load all the stuff and we had some buffer time.

By 0840, we were on the boat and headed out of the Charleston harbor.

Ravenel Selfie!

Bye CHS!

Because of some intense diesel fumes and moderately rough seas while in a small craft, I got sea sick.  I didn't puke, but I wished I could.  I tried sitting in different places on the boat to avoid the fumes, to no avail... andddd it took over 2 hours to get to the dive site, a sunken barge with some submarine things that have become a haven for fishies and coral.  It was actually super cool.

We did 2 dives in total.  On the first dive, I found several shells and an urchin shell!  I was super pumped about the urchin shell because they are super fragile.  I handed it to a dive master with my fins while I was getting back on the boat and then he crushed it when he came to get back on the boat and I didn't cry, but I really wanted to.  I tried to hide my disappointment, like why wouldn't you just hand the shit off before you try to climb the fucking ladder, but it didn't matter because the shell was crushed.  He did apologize and he obviously felt bad.

Between dives, I tried not to be sick from the rocking.  I almost got sick, and then it didn't happen and I was super disappointed.  When we went down for our 2nd dive, I searched everywhere for another urchin shell, but the one that had been crushed was obviously the only one that existed at that wreck.  The dive master admitted that he also looked for a replacement urchin.  He did find a different shell that he gave me, so, he gets a gold star for trying.

When we got out after our 2nd dive, we started breaking down our gear while dive masters were pulling up the anchors.  As soon as the boat was turned on and the diesel fumes resumed, it finally happened, I finally puked.  But it was like a puke and rally, because I felt infinitely better after I puked.  I felt bad because there were people eating as I'm squatting on the dive deck regurgitating stomach acid, but I had no where else to go.  They, fortunately, all understood.

That wonky horizon.. Ugh.
#BoatSelfieProblems

Once we finally started heading back to dry land, the seas were calmer than when we went out and the forward motion really helped disperse the fumes.  I was one of three females on the trip and we'd all been feeling, at least, some mild sea sickness on the way, and another diver mentioned how well we'd all recovered on the way back because we were all smiling and laughing and eating on the return trip.  I was relieved not to be sick on the way back.  The feeling kinda returned when we slowed down to get into the marina and the fumes got bad again, but I managed.

It's hard to see, but a film was fucked up on my glasses and it made seeing very difficult,
especially with the added salt water.

We made it back right in time.  We'd went through a few sprinkles on the way into the harbor, but when we turned around and noticed a huge rain cloud over the place we had just been, we were grateful for perfect timing.

Adventures with Husband are the best.
Even if my new name is Red Skull (because sunburn)

I did manage to get a pretty wicked sunburn on one side of my face because sea sickness removed any self-preservation thoughts I could have had regarding protecting my skin from the sun.  And, when we'd left, it was pretty cloudy so it wasn't even sunshiny.  #LessonLearned.

I've suffered worse burns and this is mostly just on the one side of my neck/ear, so it's nothing worse than I've dealt with before.  Any burn where your bra straps touches is infinitely worse, trust me.

While other helped loaded up the truck, one of the other female divers and I sat in the truck and enjoyed the AC, since when we returned to dry land, it was hot and humid AF.  Honestly, being so sick took everything out of me.  I also realized that we were going to miss doggy dinner time and Mom Guilt had me frantically texting Teh PT Wife and Roux's Humom.  Roux's Humom went over to release the beasts and feed them dinner for us, because she's, seriously, so fucking awesome (have I mentioned lately how lucky we are to have such good neighbors?). 

We finally left the marina after 6 and made it back to the dive shop by 6:30.  Teh German had to rinse out his rental gear and since it was already set up, I went ahead and rinsed my gear as well.  We finally made it home around 7:30. 

So here's a small world story for you.  While I was rinsing out my gear, a dive shop employee was looking for one of the rental regulators that happened to be in our dive bag.  I caused some confusion with my answers and she ended up seeing my Aqualung BCD and regulator in the dive bag and she said, "That's exactly what I would have sold you!"  I said, "Well, I got that in GTMO."  She was like, "Are you serious right now?!?"  Me, "Yes." 

And then it hit me, SHE SOLD ME MY GEAR.  I thought her face looked familiar, but I just associated her with the dive shop.. I had associated her with the WRONG dive shop.  She ran the dive shop in GTMO for YEARS.  I'm not sure what brought her to Charleston, but I made sure to send our selfie to my former GTMO dive partner.

Noticed this sexxxyy Teh Dad Tan on the way home.
Teh Dad is notorious for wearing shorts and getting his thighs burned.

Teh German and I hung up our gear to dry in the garage so Teh German could still get his truck in and then we headed over to Teh PT House for some minimal socializing since, originally, we had committed to being there for the afternoon for a gathering.. but then the dive opportunity came up.

We stayed for a short while, but we were both wiped, and probably weren't really good company.  Teh German didn't even enjoy smoking time and only had ONE beer.  I stayed in the AC and chatted with Teh NY Chef after everyone else went outside.  Eventually, we headed home and showered and it was bedtime.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning, I woke up at 0400 because my toe was itching because something bit it and then I had to pee, so I got up to pee.  Meri got up, trying to get her breakfast early, and I was like, "Definitely not," which roused Teh German who was super confused.  I ended up having to tell him to go back to sleep.  It took me almost an hour to get back to sleep.  I didn't actually hear the dogs rouse for breakfast, but I guess Teh German did so he got up with them and went downstairs and didn't come back up.  Oh well.

I slept a short while longer, then couldn't sleep anymore, so I scrolled for a little while, then finally got up.  I went ahead and got dressed and took the beasts on a walk and it was absolutely perfect outside.  A nice breeze, a "cool" 68°F, PERFECT for shorts and a t-shirt.

When I got back from the walk, we opened the windows, ate leftovers for breakfast, and I made the week's dinner menu.  Then, I started the laundry and I changed into pants so I could go to Lidl and pick up the groceries we needed for the week since it's always the temperature of the arctic in that place.  I also made a stop by Dollar Tree for some new baskets to organize the closets.  I love baskets for organizing!

After I got home from my errands, Teh German helped me put away the groceries and I set about my basket business.  I cleaned up the dog closet, which was the original motivation for buying baskets, then headed upstairs to reorganize our bathroom cabinets.

I finished up the laundry after finishing up the cabinets.  There are few greater feelings than an aired out house after organizing the shit out of some cabinets and accomplishing all the laundry/chores.  So much bliss.  When I finished, I headed downstairs for a snack, and Teh German and I continued our Marvel trek.

A blue tailed lizard on the succulents box.
It's good Meri didn't see it.
She's a lizard chaser.

My middle toe is the bit toe.  This photo doesn't do the red, itchiness justice.
I'm assuming it was a spider bite.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching movies and snuggling with my Monkey-Doodle.

We had leftover for dinner and then watched another Marvel movie before turning off the TV.  Teh Dad called right before I went upstairs, so we chatted for a bit, and then it was finally pre-bed-chores time and bedtime.

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Sunday night felt like Saturday night, which was mildly disappointing, but dive adventures were worth it, despite the sea sickness, sunburn, and price.  It was my last weekend before school, so it was spent well, IMO.

This week includes:
-All day, off-site meeting on Tuesday, thoughts and prayers requested.
-School starts Wednesday, thoughts and prayers requested, lol.
-Saturday is my next tattoo appointment, more thoughts and prayers requested, lol again.

Also, please send out a cool weather dance for us.  It was so delightful on Sunday and I need more of that in my life.  I posted on FB about how I'd like a hurricane to come so the temps would cool (and a hurrication never hurts my soul) and some people got really upset over it.  Twin Mom suggested maybe a few tropical storms and I agreed with that.  I don't want people's shit to get ruined, I just want temps in the 70s again.

Happy end of August, Gentle Readers!

Honeymoon Part 2 of 5

Disclaimer: PHOTO HEAVY POST

Some of the underwater photos have been edited for color correction.  Some haven't.  Some of the photos were corrupt which meant that time I had spent editing was wasted.  You get what you get around these parts.  There are still some pretty cool photos here.

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Thursday, May 24

It didn't really matter that I was jet lagged AF, I was wide-awake at 0430 and there was nothing I could do about that.  So I perused social media until about 0515 and finally went back to sleep.  Around 0745 we got up for breakfast.  I found a place that served waffles on Yelp and we walked out to explore/get breakfast.

We split sweet and savory entrees.
#BestTeam4Ever

After a delightful breakfast, we walked back to our hotel, shuffled the stuff inside the suitcases around for our dive trip and got ready for the day.  Around 11, we summoned an Uber to take us to the dive office, where we checked in, dropped off our bags, and then proceeded to kill time walking around Cairns.
 
We checked out several souvenir places, as I was on the hunt for kangaroo testicle bottle openers.  We also stopped in Woolworth since I lurve walking through grocery stores in other countries.  I like to see what is the same and what is different.  We walked the esplanade, which was a water area that was at the shore, but wasn't the ocean.  It was pretty cool.  We learned that there is a serious jelly fish problem in Cairns, thus ocean swimming wasn't encouraged, thus the esplanade.  We finally decided to grab a snack at a Bavarian beer garden where I HAD A BEER.  I know, pick your mouth up from the floor.  It was a radler, so it was really half beer, half sprite, but that's the way I can drink it.. sooooo that's what I did.  After the beer garden we checked out a few miscellaneous chain shops (Billabong, etc) and we passed by a sign that advertised a massage place.  We had seen several of these signs, but I figured why the fuck not?  I asked Teh German if he was interested and explained that we had the perfect amount of time to get a massage and he agreed.  After our massage, he said, "That was a really good idea, Babe."  Why thank you, I'm here for forever.

There was a giraffe watching us while we drank our coffee.

This Stingrays fan had to get a pic with the stingray.

This is us.

I drank the whole thing!

After our massages, we headed towards the location where we were meeting the dive group for dinner before boarding.  We walked the boardwalk where the restaurant was, stopping for me to take photos.  Tired of walking around, we headed to the restaurant and hung out for a bit since we were early.  Eventually, it was finally time for our meet up (4:30) and we noticed a man with a Mike Ball Dive Adventures shirt on and other people gathered around him.  We had found our people.  The man with the Mike Ball shirt on was, in fact, Mike Ball.  Cool.  Then he insisted on putting my name tag on my chest for me.  Not cool.

We ordered dinner while we were getting briefed about our trip.  Sadly, my food came out waaayyy too spicy for me to eat and Teh German had ordered a spicy meal, so there was no trading.  Feeling like an epic douche, I brought my bowl up to the counter and explained that my food was too spicy for me to eat and I hadn't realized when I ordered it that the meal would be spicy.  The lady dismissed my apologies and told me it was no worries they'd remake it for me with no spice.  I still felt like an asshole.  Eventually, my remade meal came back out and I was able to eat it.  Thank God.

Mike Ball turned out to be super nice, but kinda all over the place, which really had me worried that he was going to be going on our trip and leading dives.  Turns out, that was was not the case, and I was greatly relieved.  After our briefing and dinner, we walked the boardwalk to the ship.  Before we boarded, we received our room assignments, then we boarded to check and see that all of our luggage made it to the ship.

After a check, we headed to the "living room" to wait for our boat safety brief.  After our brief and meeting the crew, we went back to our room and unpacked then went back upstairs to hang out.  When we arrived back upstairs, the boat coordinator asked if we wanted to upgrade our room (from a room with bunk beds to a room with 2 unstacked twin beds and a window for $100 each).  Teh German and I agreed that we would like to switch so no one had to sleep in the top rack.  After we notified the coordinator, we moved all our shit and went back upstairs to hang out for a little while longer.

By 8, I was done though, and we headed to bed.


PS.  The room switch was totally worth it because we had such rough seas the entire trip that those who were in the top bunk complained that they were unable to sleep because they kept thinking they were going to get rocked out of the bed.

Our room from the door.
Teh German's bed was on the right.

My bed.

Bathroom, where a lot of magic balancing acts took place due to the motion of the ocean, literally.

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Friday, May 25

As this was our first live aboard trip, we had no idea what we were in for.  We were just going to go with the flow.  At 0630, our dive trip coordinator went through the halls "singing" his notorious "WAKEEEYYYYY WAAAKKKKEEEYYY".  Yep, that was our wake up call.  We woke up and headed up to the galley and had breakfast.  After breakfast we had our first dive briefing.

Since Teh German had never done an ocean dive before, he had to do an orientation dive with a dive master/instructor, and that was ok with me.  It really helped ease us into being actual dive partners.  The first dive is always overwhelming because you don't really know what to expect and it's all new.

We came up after our first dive and were like school kids, super gleeful and excited.  After everyone surfaced, the boat moved to another reef and we did our first dive on our own without supervision.  This was also mildly stressful for us because we're both control freaks and there is no way to effectively communicate under the water (since we didn't wear the arm slates I bought specifically for this trip, for that reason).  Nonetheless, we made it work.  After our 2 morning dives, it was lunch time.  During lunch, we relocated, and after lunch we did an evening dive, then took a nap.  There was an option a night dive at the evening dive location, but we didn't go down since the water was extremely choppy and we assumed there would be a serious current.  There wasn't.  Oh well.  Dinner was at 8, and after dinner, we collapsed into bed, completely exhausted.

Divers in the water.

Cuddlefish

Clam!

Nemo!

There's fishies hidden in that coral.

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Saturday, May 26

0630 wake up with the fabulous song.  We had a light breakfast, where I got to treat myself to hot tea with a splash of milk and a bit of sugar (a lovely overseas habit I have in place of drinking sweet tea) and cereal.  After breakfast, we had our dive brief and went on a morning dive.

As is my standard, I'm always the one with issues.  After we had surfaced and were making our way to the boat, I started to feel something odd on my forehead and my cheek... AND THEN IMMEDIATELY I WAS SCREAMING.  A jellyfish had discovered land!... in the form of my face.  I'm screaming that there is a jellyfish on my face and they can't really understand because there's waves splashing in my face and I'm pawing at my face trying to rub it off (of course, this makes my hands start to burn).  One of the staff jumps in to assist me and get the jelly off my face.  We are both slamming up against the back of the boat.

In my head I'm telling myself I need to be calm because I need to help them help me, but an ocean critter was stabbing my face with needles and it fucking hurt.  I did stop yelling and tried to be still, but the waves were really giving us a thrashing.  They claimed the jelly was off my face, but I couldn't tell because it hurt soooo bad.  They eventually got me out of my BCD and lifted out of the water.  I sat down and the dive coordinator sprayed my face with vinegar to help ease the stinging.  It was everything you could imagine.

I had been stung across my forehead and on my left cheek.  I also had stings on my hands from trying to wipe the jelly off my face.  #ThisIsMyLife  Fortunately, there was a doctor on board who had some sting gel, which she gave me.  I applied it liberally all over my face and hands.  I looked like Fiona from Shrek.

Fiona!

I took some benedryl at 2nd breakfast, knowing I would need a nap after.  Rather than get in 2 dives at the same site, we agreed to relax in our room (so I could nap) and then we'd go down towards the end of the dive window.  It was a good plan.  When I woke up, I felt better and not as wiped out.  We changed back into our swim suits and geared up and headed down.  I think we were both super skeptical about coming up and getting out again, but our dive went without incident, thankfully.

After changing out of our suits, we had some screen time (I was reading, Teh German was probably gaming).  In the afternoon we had another dive without incident.  There was a laziness break, and then we went on the night dive at the same site as our afternoon dive.  It was Teh German's first night dive, so we went with a group.  We saw some pretty awesome things.  Moray eels, sleeping sea turtles, fishiessssssssss, etc.  I think Teh German had been worried about doing a night dive, but after, he was super pumped that he had gone.  Hearing Teh German's excitement when he talked with other divers about the stuff we'd seen was pretty cute.

I often take some of my experiences for granted, so it's nice to see the excitement of a beginner and remind myself how cool some of the shit I do actually is.

After changing out of our wet swim stuff, we headed to the common area for dinner.  I introduced the crew to Mezzo Mix (Coke + Fanta) and then dinner was served.  After dinner, we headed back to the room to relax.  I listened to some audiobook while playing on my Kindle and then it was sleepy time.

Nemo!

Blue starfish made me giggle.

Nemo!

Gill!

More Nemo

A crazy huge school of fish.

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Sunday, May 27

Sunday was our last day of dives.  I won't lie, I was exhausted.  Wakey wakey was at 0630, as usual.  We had tea and cereal before heading to our dive brief.  Our morning dive was super peaceful and Teh German and I agreed that starting the morning out under the water was a pleasant way to wake up.  After 2nd breakfast we made the honeymoon official... with another nap.

We woke up from our nap for a pre-lunch dive.  After our dive, we rinsed, then checked out the ship store and purchased some Mike Ball shirts (of course, I bought a shirt, who do you think I am?).  After some down time on the upper deck, it was time for our final dive brief of the trip.

After our afternoon dive, which had to be completed before 4pm since we were flying the following day, we brought our gear to the top deck to dry, showered (as in, I actually washed my hair, in showers prior, I had just been putting conditioner in my hair and not rinsing it out (boo salt water, yall)), and went to hang out in the common areas.  Because it was our final night onboard, the crew was doing a special BBQ dinner with karaoke, which I actually participated in because everyone else was acting like pussies.  My song was "Take Me Home, Country Roads" because I knew the song, the "DJ" had the song on his phone, and the lyrics were one of 15 songs they had printed.. and with no mobile data... entertainment options were limited.  I should have just sang Hello by Adele acapella, lol.

Shrimp on the barbie.

I didn't have a luau shirt, so Minnie had to make an appearance.

Dinner took FORRREEEVVVVEERRRR to prepare.  Seriously.  We didn't eat until after 8:30 and we were all getting pretty hangry and willing to go to bed hungry.  After dinner, they wanted to show us pictures that the photographer had taken and the winners of the photo "contest" and the trip video.  It was after 10 when I gave it up.  I didn't care anymore and all I wanted to do was go to bed.  It was after 10:30 when we finally made it to our cabin for sleeps and I practically fell into the bed.

A MONSTER conch shell.

Size reference

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Monday, May 28

Monday I woke up with a horrible headache and serious nausea.  I medicated and begged Teh German to put me out of my misery.  He refused.  Rude.  I finally got out of bed, knowing that I was pushing my time limits, vomited, brushed my teeth, and went and laid back in bed.  I watched Teh German throw our dirty laundry in the suitcase and IDGAF as long as it fit.  I'd reorganize it later after we were off the boat and not rocking around while I was feeling nauseous.

We went upstairs for breakfast.  After breakfast was group photos, then we took a dinghy ride to Lizard Island from the ship.  I was in just the perfect spot that I took 95% of the water that was splashed up and was pretty much soaked on my left side.  We had to wait on our air taxi (plane), so I walked down the beach taking photos.  Eventually, we had to head to the airstrip, by foot, so I packed up my camera and we all migrated to the "airport", which was a covered seated area equipped with 2 snakes in the rafters.  While we waited, I took a nap since I was still feeling like a bag of ass.

Our plane finally arrived.  Teh German was able to sit in the co-pilot seat, which was awesome since he's always dreamed of being a pilot.  I sat behind the pilot and took a mabillionty photos of the Great Barrier Reef as we flew over at 500 feet.  When we landed in Cairns, the driver returned us to the Mike Ball office where we were reunited with the luggage we left behind since we didn't need it on the ship and space was limited.

Before we did anything, I fished out some dry clothes and found a public bathroom to go change out of my wet clothing.  Dry again, after 3 hours of being wet, we fetched a coffee, then had to have the Mike Ball office call a taxi for us to get back to the airport.  /facepalm.  Had I realized we could have had them meet us at the airport with our luggage, I would have opted for that....

We opted to go to the airport 5 hours early so we could relax for 5 hours with wifi instead of poking around town and then going to airport 2 hours before.  When we got to the airport, I rearranged the stuff in our luggage to be the proper weights so we could check in.  The lady checking us in was very impressed with our precise weights.  That luggage scale was seriously one of the best investments of the trip.  Time and frustration saved!

While we were loading on the plane, we noticed 4 people from our dive trip, one of whom was across the aisle from us, which was a funny coincidence.  When we arrived in Sydney, we made it through the airport and took an Uber to what I thought was our AirBnB.  Turns out, of the 2 options for the building number, our driver had picked wrong.  We were at 52 and we needed to be at 361.  I ended up hailing another cab who drove us down the street to our actual destination.

It was another one of those, "will I be divorced tomorrow?" moments.
It was one of those, "I cannot deal with your drama AND this problem right now" moments.
It was also one of those, "I've never done this before, how should I have known" moments.

Once we made it to the correct building, the instructions from the AirBnB host made sooo much more sense and we were able to get inside without further issues.  When we arrived inside, we unpacked, I sorted the dirty laundry that needed to be washed, started the laundry, and then we went the fuck to bed.

Dive video from Mike Ball Dive Expeditions.

Honeymoon Adventures

Part 1: SC to MD, MD to Cairns
Part 2: Scuba Diving the Great Barrier Reef
Part 3: Sydney Touristing
Part 4: California (San Francisco and Sacramento)
Part 5: MD to SC